The story is set in Genoa and Milan in 1943 when, after the Allied landing in Sicily and the Armistice signed the 8th of September, a puppet State (The Italian Social Republic or Repubblica di Salò) wanted by the Nazi and lead by Mussolini (by that time former Italian dictator) and the Fascist Party was created to control the Northern Italy, still in German hands. (Read more HERE) The film talk about the story of Vittorio Bardone (played by the great italian actor and director Vittorio De Sica), a crook and a gambler that, after the Germans arrested him, agrees on impersonating a partisan leader (General della Rovere) killed by the Nazis, to steal information about the Italian partisan movement to the political prisoners in San Vittore Prison in Milan. But once in jail Bardone rise in consciousness of what the partisan struggle means…

Indro Montanelli, after joining the fascism and let it to join in 1943 the partisan movement Giustizia e libertà, was arrested and imprisoned in San Vittore Prison and condemned to death (but an escape organized by the then Corriere della Sera’s proprietor saved him); while in prison he met Giovanni Bertoni the man who inspired the character of Vittorio Bardone and this movie’s story that also became a novel published the same year.

About Ella V

I just saw Monsieur Lazhar (French-Canadian) … and highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it. I also saw a rather slow but poignant movie titled The Visitors. A U.S. film, it dealt with immigration issues and U.S. handling of illegal residents (Syrian & Sengalese). No happy ending in this one – which pleased me as it would have turned the film into little more than a Disney-esque approach to these issues.